Gene therapy for autoimmune disease

Autoantigen-specific CD4(+) T lymphocytes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Tissue-specific homing properties of autoantigen-specific CD4(+) T cells suggested that these cells might be ideal vehicles for delivery of retroviral-encoded regulatory proteins in a site-specific manner as a therapy for autoimmune diseases. Application of retroviral transduction of autoantigen-reactive CD4(+) T cells in gene therapy of autoimmunity must include systems capable of targeting these rare populations of antigen-activated T cells. Studies discussed below suggest that retroviral transduction of autoantigen-specific murine CD4(+) T cells may provide a method to target and isolate nontransformed autoantigen-specific murine CD4(+) T cells and provide a rational approach to gene therapy in animal models of autoimmunity.